Reading v Scunthorpe United
The Madejski Stadium
Coca-Cola Championship - Saturday, December 12, 2009
Listen live on The Iron Player
FULL-TIME
Reading 1 Scunthorpe United 1
A draw is a decent enough result, considering United were out of this game for long periods of time - but, it could've been a win. I can't believe Jonathan Forte hit that effort wide at the end - it was so unlucky.
That said, a point is much better than no points, and it keeps Reading below United. Basically, it's a better result for us than for them, and it extends the unbeaten run to four matches. In fact, that's six points from the last four games - which is a much better return than we got from the previous four!
SECOND-HALF
94 Minutes: Hayes tries to find Josh Wright in the area. He might've been better off having a shot. The whistle goes soon after. It's greeted by boos from the home crowd.
92 Minutes: Lillis makes a good save from a Kebe shot.
89 Minutes: Jonathan Forte wriggles around the entire Reading defence (the hard bit) - then misses from the one-on-one scenario he creates. He drags the ball along the floor and wide of the post with his left-foot. That was United's chance. He did so well to make that too. What a shame...
88 Minutes: Sub by Scunthorpe - Hooper walks very slowly from the pitch - he's in no hurry to speed this game up. Forte comes on in his place.
86 Minutes: Kebe tees-up Ingimarsson, who slips the ball over from inside the area. He should've scored. Reading continue to probe, but despite making a couple of great chances, fail to find a way through to goal.
84 Minutes: Reading are the one's who look more likely to fling themselves forward, but I can see United nicking this one! The whole stadium has gone quiet, and the crowd are really on the home sides back now. They're frustrated. Their team should have this game sewn up, but they find themsleves level.
79 Minutes: Goal for Scunthorpe! Completely against the run of play, United grab a goal. Thompson starts the move, playing the ball into the chest of Paul Hayes who is located in the box. Hayes holds off his man, then rolls it to Hooper - who steadies himself, before placing it neatly into the bottom-right corner of the net. You could actually see that coming. Reading have been so dominant, it just had to happen.
Reading 1 Scunthorpe United 1
76 Minutes: Lillis makes another great save (that in all honesty, had the defence done its job properly, he wouldn't have had to make) after Sigurdsson had toyed with the Scunny defence and unleashed a shot.
74 Minutes: Hayes gets the ball deep. He's being followed, so is forced to lump it towards Hooper - but marked by three defenders, he doesn't have a chance. Reading win it back, and launch another attack.
72 Minutes: A free-kick is struck by Grant McCann. It hits the wall and bounces up, and Gary Hooper tracks it like a predator following prey; but it's snapped up by Federici before Hooper can possibly reach it.
69 Minutes: Kebe flies in on goal from behind the United defence. Josh Lillis shows good awareness though, and is quickly out to smother the ball.
67 Minutes: Reading are bossing it at this current moment, but United are not out of it. I was talking to somebody from the Reading newspaper at half-time, and he told me that The Royal's often find it hard to kill teams off. Well, they haven't killed United off yet, and as long as the score stays at 1-0, there is hope. Remember the Leicester game the other week?
66 Minutes: Sub by Scunthorpe - Sam Togwell is brought off, allowing Michael O'Connor, who missed the last game through injury, to take to the field. Will Togwell add some bite to United's dynamics?
62 Minutes: After Scunthorpe do some pressing which comes to nothing, and Reading miss another close-range effort through Rasiak, Reading make a change. Sub by Reading - Robson-Kanu off for Jimmy Kebe.
59 Minutes: Sub by Scunthorpe - Wright comes on at right-back. Byrne's replaced.
56 Minutes: Thompson chases down a ball, and not for the first time today, forces Federici into making a hash of a clearence. It goes as far as Josh Wright, who aware that the goalie's strayed out of position, stabs an instinctive effort towards goal. It goes over.
55 Minutes: From where I'm sat, the view is amazing. It means that I just got a top-notch view as Jobi McAnuff played a really terrible pass out of play - killing an entire Reading attack.
49 Minutes: Reading carve out a delightful chance to double their advantage, and, one would suspect, wrap up the points. The ball is sprayed across the United box, and picked up by Ivar Ingimarsson at the back-post. From close range, he slams an effort towards goal. Forunately, he hits it roughly at Josh Lillis - but that means to take nothing away from Josh's save - it was splendid.
46 Minutes: Within seconds of the re-start, United win a corner. It's taken by Grant McCann, but plucked away from the awaiting head of Rob Jones by Adam Federici.
HALF-TIME
Reading 1 Scunthorpe United 0
United are down, but not out. They can win this - Reading aren't a good side, and if ever there was an away game there for the taking, this is it.
That said, I do think that Reading potentially have more goals in them (that could be because Scunthorpe are pretty inept at defending much of the time, however), but so do Scunny - they really do. This could be an interesting second-half - this game is either Reading's or Scunthorpe's to win or lose; but ultimately and undeniably, it's this sort of game that will define survival or relegation come May.
Attendance: 15,274 (395 away)
FIRST-HALF
42 Minutes: Midfielder Grant McCann plays a deep and searching ball into the Reading box. It was from a free-kick, so therefore Rob Jones had trudged forward, and was able to place himself on the end of it. Jones knocked the ball down wonderfully into a dangerous; but also uninhabited area, so a decent chance went begging. The ball was one a plate, but there was no diner their to gobble it up.
38 Minutes: Despite their slender lead, Reading still seem uncomfortable on the ball. Alex Pearce, one of their centre-backs, just held the ball in defence for what seemed like an age, before eventually sending a tentative pass forward. They look like they have goals in them, Reading, but they look capable of shipping them too. Federici, their goalie, looks particularly shaky in my opinion.
35 Minutes: Alex Pearce sends an effort crashing against the bar following a corner. That could and should have been two to The Royals.
34 Minutes: In a position from which they will shoot, Reading win a free-kick.Sigurdsson, the man of the moment, strikes it, and is only denied by a fine Josh Lillis save.
30 Minutes: The game's toddled into a boring little phase in which nothing's happening. Every game has one of them, and this is today's. Both teams are seeing the ball frequently, but neither are using it very well at all.
23 Minutes: Scunthorpe corner. McCann plays it in, Byrne arrives to greet it - and duly heads it back towards the corner flag. Byrne then shrugs his shoulders as the ball trickles out of play. That was the epitomie of a set-piece going wrong.
20 Minutes: Reading are all over United at the moment - like a nasty little blue and white rash. They almost doubled their lead a second ago, but a brave tackle from Cliff Byrne stopped Jobi McAnuff tapping home a rebound following an initial Sigurdsson shot.
16 Minutes: Goal for Reading! Not for the first time, Grezegorz Rasiak scores against United. He scored the winner for Southampton against The Iron a couple of years ago, and also for Watford in last season's FA Cup. Now he scores one against Scunthorpe for Reading with a back-post header.
Reading 1 Scunthorpe United 0
12 Minutes: Hayes slips the ball through to Hooper. He beats the last defender for pace, takes the ball out wide, and then tries to side-foot a shot across goal. Maybe he should've shot with his left. Federici is able to save it with his legs.
11 Minutes: A bad pass from Gary Hooper is intercepted by Gylfi Sigursson. Reading are suddenly on a dangerous attack, and Sigursson has options all around him. He decides to try and play a ball through the middle, but thankfully, it's cut out by the ever-reliable David Mirfin.
8 Minutes: Reading winger Gylfi Sigurdsson pops a corner into the box. Gregorz Rasiak gets his head on the end of it, but his effort drifts slowly and unexcitingly wide of the Scunthorpe goal.
5 Minutes: Garry Thompson and Gary Hooper put Adam Federici, the Reading goalie, under pressure. Federici then miscues a clearance, but there's no United player on hand to pick up the loose ball and take advantage.
1 Minute: We're underway here at Reading's Madejski Stadium. Sorry for taking a while to file my first reportings, we've had some internet connection issues!
TEAM NEWS
Reading: Federici, Cisse, Tabb, Matejovsky, McAnuff, Ingimarsson (c), Robson-Kanu, Rasiak, Sigurdsson, Pearce, Cummings. Subs: Armstrong, Mills, Gunnarsson, Kebe, Karacan, Hamer, O'Dea.
Scunthorpe United: Lillis, Jones (c), Byrne, Mirfin, Williams, Togwell, Wright, McCann, Thompson, Hayes, Hooper. Subs: Slocombe, A. Wright, Friend, Spence, Sparrow, O'Connor, Forte.
That constitutes one change for United, and it's an enforced one at that - Murphy is out of the starting eleven via suspension; so Josh Lillis replaces him in between the sticks. In the only other piece of significant news, Marcus Williams manages to make the team despite limping off the Oakwell field of play in an injured state on Wednesday evening.
PREAMBLE
Reading isn't exactly renowned as the most difficult place to visit in the Championship calendar this season. They have a poor home record, and Scunthorpe, on the back of a three game unbeaten run, will be looking to take full advantage of that this December afternoon.
In actual fact, Reading lay one place beneath The Iron in the table, and if United were to pick up three points today, they'd start to put some clear daylight between themselves and drop zone.
